“You can't use it as a nickname or a chant because abusive chants will come back”

Dean FurmanOldham Athletic

However, Piara Powar, executive director of the Football Against Racism in Europe organisation, has criticised Herbert for being naive and questioned whether he properly understands football.

Some Tottenham fans have historically referred to themselves as the "Yid Army", in reference to the club's Jewish supporters.

The term is used in a chant by some fans at White Hart Lane and can often be seen on flags and banners at the ground.

But Herbert told BBC Sport: "Clearly Tottenham have a distance to travel before they learn of the offence that is being caused.

"If you had a group of Afro-Caribbean supporters using the 'N-word', even as a 'defence mechanism', it would clearly be completely unacceptable. There are young supporters present when the chants are used.

"Use of the word, even in this way, could be seen by some as justifying other people using the term."

He has warned the north London club that unless they take action by 20 November, he will report "a racist incident" to the Metropolitan Police.

Furman says there must be zero tolerance

Earlier on Wednesday, Spurs released a statement arguing that "real anti-Semitic abuse, such as hissing to simulate the noise of gas chambers, is the real evil and the real offence".

It continued: "Our fans adopted the chant as a defence mechanism in order to own the term and thereby deflect anti-Semitic abuse. Our position on this topic is very clear. The club does not tolerate any form of racist or abusive chanting.

"Our guiding principle in respect of the 'Y-word' is based on the point of law itself - the distinguishing factor is the intent with which it is used, ie if it is used with the deliberate intention to cause offence. This has been the basis of prosecutions of fans of other teams to date.

"They do not use the term to others to cause any offence, they use it a chant amongst themselves.

"We believe this is the area that requires a determined and concerted effort from all parties and where we seek greater support to eradicate."

Oldham and South Africa midfielder Furman backed Herbert by saying the term should not be used at all.

"I understand that it can be used as a nickname in some quarters, but if it's important to stop the use of the word then you can't use it either way," he told BBC Sport.

"You can't use it as a nickname or a chant for Tottenham because abusive chants will come back. The more they use it, the more opposition fans will use it. If it is banned altogether then hopefully we won't get the abuse at all. It needs to be tackled in the same way as racist chanting.

“I think this is where Peter Herbert and the Society of Black Lawyers are naiive, they perhaps don't know football”

Piara PowerFootball Against Racism in Europe

"The sanctions need to be high and then it will be stamped out of the game for good. We need zero tolerance."

"The anti-Semitic abuse is sung on the terraces and it's vital that anyone caught singing these chants is immediately removed from the stadium.

"People will be singing those songs without the knowledge of what went on in the Holocaust, for instance. Knowledge is everything and the sooner we can get these songs stamped out of our game the better."

But Powar criticised Herbert for his intervention. "I think this is where Peter Herbert and the Society of Black Lawyers are naive," he told BBC Sport.

"They perhaps don't know football. To think 20 to 30 years of complex identity will be cleared up overnight is wrong. And I have to say that the Jewish community are split on their use of that term.

"Many young members say it's a badge of appreciation and gives them pride. Some older members says that's not true, it's a derogatory term and goes back to a period they don't want to remember."

"Y.." is a Jewish word. It just means "Jew". When I meet my Dad I say "Vos macht a y...?" (meaning "how are you doing"/"what are you up to?") It's painful that our own word became a term of abuse in Britain. But it warms my heart that my Spurs mates have turned it back into something positive. When I'm in a crowd shouting "Y.. Army" I am totally content and totally defiant.

Mr Herbert is a joke, who complained that there were not any Black supreme court judges and cannot advise which candidates were overlooked especially with the facts that the Black population would only have been 4% when these appointees where going through their legal training (i.e. the available source pool). What's 4% of 10 people, statistically there doesn't warrant any positive discrimination.

I am not at all surprised to see that my fellow football fans of many persuasions display so much more common sense than SBL. Surely, a society that purports to speak for lawyers (of whatever hue) should be aware that criminal intent is a foundation of English law. If the users of this term, can reasonably thought, to not be intending to cause harm to others; no crime has been commited.

As a secular Jew and a West Ham fan. With great grand parents and grand parents who were born in the Mile End Road and Bow, I am not upset by Tottenham fans chanting the Y word. The irony is that there are probably just as many Jewish WHU fans as Spurs fans.

OK so youth not the excuse for the nonsensical arguments and churlish insults then.

I'm not telling you what a Semite is. Yes, it would be more accurate to call them anti-Jewish chants but i'm sure those bigots who used them originally and use them now aren't really bothered about the semantics - or genetics, or how they're described.

Alfie, I am Jewish. Are you suggesting that I am genetically linked to Ethiopian Jews? Sephardic, Ashkenazi and Yiddish all have different genetics as do the above mentioned Ethiopians....Large numbers of Aryan Caucasians converted to Judaism as a part of the Khazar Empire. Maybe you need to update your Jewish history knowledge :-)

868.alfie1 Go to Palestine and tell the Palestinian Muslim Semites that Askenasis are Semites... I made friends with some Palestinian Semites for the 1st time the other day. They had excellent sense of humour I have to say!! So go on, go to Palestine and say that and give everyone a good laugh.... (They need a good laugh cos of all the stress from the Askenasis surrounding them in Tanks).

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